Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
RAILROAD ROBBERS.
WHOLESALE ARREST OF PAN
 HANDLE FREIGHTMEN.
Breaking Up a Gang Which has Stolen $25O,OOO Worth of Mer- ChandiSe.

The most important arrests ever made in that part of the country were begun at Pitts burg, Pa., at an early hour the other morning. They were not completed before late in the afternoon, and at that time the officers of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad Company, known as the Pan Handle, had in custody the most daring gang of railroad rob- bers this country has ever known. How many members belong to 1t are not kuown, but they run up into the hundreds. Their stealings e1- tend over period of two or three years, and the amount stolen reaches nearly 900; Simultaneous arrests were made all along the line of the Pan Handle road between Pitts burg and Columbus. Warrants had been in the hands of officers for some time, and the persons arrested comprise large proportion of the freight men of the line. They include the conductors, brakemen, engineers and firemen The ringleaders of the gang are outside the railroad business and are known.
 In speaking of the arrests prominent officer of the Panhandle road says:
 ''These robberies have been carried on sys- tematically for several years. The company have long been aware that there was a leakage somewhere and as early as September, 1886, they quietly commenced Investigations. De- tectives were placed on the trains where the | goods could be watched and the thieves | caught. We had already discovered that the | culprits were employees of the company. In | on the Pan handle Railroad coming into Pitts burgh. Of these eighty crews no less than seventy-fve were found to be crooked. A crew consists of conductor, tlagman and two l brakeman. In some cases all the men were ln- volved, in others only part.
 l 'sThe goods were obtained by the thieves in various ways. In many instances the seals were broken, while in others hatchets were used to cut hole in the end of the car, l through which the men crawled and took what they coveted. Then they reported the car in bad condition, claiming that the hole had been made by accident. The operations were all the result of combination. Arrangements were carefully made and each rascal was as- signed to his particular part of the work in much the same way as bank robbery is con- ducted by professional cracksmen. do not know that the members of the combination were oathbound or anything of that kind, but it is certain that a thorough understanding existed among them and they acted in concert to cover each others misdoings.
 "A thing which alarmed us more than any thing else, was that they stole large quanti. ties of whiskey and drank it in the caboose. They neefed vessels to hold the liquor, sc daring to keep whiskey openly in the cars they tore up the flooring and hid it under heath. Men were con inually reported drunk on duty, and the probability of disaster was something frightful to contemplate. All kinds of goods were stolen, including sewing ma chimes, guns, revolvers, s:lverware, cigars, clothing, liquors, groceries, furniture, and, II fact, every imaginable article that can be car ried on car, were quietly removed. The depredations were committed all along the road and the losers reside at points as fal west as Denver. Fences were established il this cisy, where the stolen property was taker and then sold, the money being evenly divid ed among the crews It is impossible to give the aggregate value of the property stolen but it reach nearly S250, GOO anyway"
 The combination to rob freight train ne- cessitated the guilty knowledge and actua participation of the conductor, the middle man or flagman It did not, of necessity, take in the front brakeman or fagman, nor the en gineer or fireman, but the others had to be 1T to make it work. The Government bonded cars were broken, perhaps, oftener than thu ordinary Union line or common freight cars In these they always knew they could ge choice goods. Silks, cigars, rifles, all kinds imported firearms and caddies of tobacco seemed to be some of their necessities. Boxe of shoes and general run of merchant sup plies for their everyday use were found openl' in the caboose cars of each train. Hundreds o boxes which had contained the finest of i'm ported cigars were also found on these trains boldly used by the men to hold their cap So bold had they become that the United States regulations, strict as they are, had los all terror for them. While the Custom Hous officers were trying to trace the goods and tn merchants corresponding with the shippers and the special agents wondering how thi could possibly be- the operators smoked thei Havanas within the very shadow of the Cour or Custom House and laughed at their mas ters who suffered the loss.